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vbnd, known as a “sad artist” presents vibey-why be so sad music. You’ll be looking at the roof, thinking about where your life went wrong. Although his philosophy is quite detrimental to a happy life, his music is tight and well thought out. One could make the argument that the kind of mindset vbnd is in, is the perfect way to work. Putting together mixes from the heart and soul, it’s music to your emotional ears.

What's integral to the work you produce?

The heart and soul of vbnd is definitely the way I process emotions, which are usually turned into sound. Call it masochistic in a sense but I subject myself to less than stellar conditions in order to fuel my creative brain. Working terrible jobs, giving the wrong people the time of day, eating (or lack of) terrible food. I'll just get myself into uncomfortable situations and I'll use those emotions to reveal the inner parts of myself into my work. I think it's important to be honest and to be in touch with who you are. I tend to not look after myself the way I should be because I think there is comfort in knowing your limits and what makes you uncomfortable. I find it interesting how I can create better on an empty stomach or a broken heart. Even though the process is a little rough on me I don't think I would change a thing about the way I go about my work. I'm a very emotional person and you can tell haha.

Is the artistic life lonely?

I don't think it is inherently, but my life as an artist is very lonely, especially in the area that I live in. For the longest time I've been the only artist of my kind in my city (to my knowledge) so its been tough finding the right people that I can understand and that will understand me, artistically speaking. One of my goals is to change that, hopefully inspire people to be forward thinkers. Producing music has been a weird journey. I've had people tell me that I would never go anywhere with it. I also haven't seen a lick of any sort of small time media attention like a lot of other local acts do, no i don't think i DESERVE it, I'm not trying to feel entitled to anything its just weird getting all this attention worldwide and yet nobody in my hometown knows about me or my music. This past year has been really great for me in that sense. I've been meeting a lot of like-minded artists and music lovers from Saskatoon, yet it still feels really lonely out here. Hopefully that will change but if it doesn't, well thats okay. Loneliness is part of vbnd.

What kind of person do you have to be to pursue an artistic driven profession?

Art is very subjective, but in my opinion a person need to be completely honest in order to pursue any form of art as a career. It's worked for me and it's the way I view art and the artists that produce. That being said; that's only the way I look at things. When I create there is nothing held back, even if things get really personal. The more personal and raw, the better the product is. It's important to be very introspective and honest with yourself, but also if you have no idea who you are and are just entirely lost, that also works.

Who do you present to the world, and who are you behind closed doors?

The person that I am to the world and the person that I am behind closed doors are basically the same. A lot of artists try to keep their personal life out of their professional life, and I can understand why they would want to do that, it's just not my style though, so I tend to blur the personal and the professional line of who I am online. A lot of the posts that I make to social media are very personal because thats the way I want it to be, I try not to take myself too seriously. I do take myself seriously of course, I just like to be outright and personal when I engage with my fans or whenever I post. That being said with my profession I can't bear it all or else people would see just how flawed I am as a person, it usually gets filtered before it gets out, especially now that I have a manager sort of looking after me at all times.

Did your upbringing affect the music you make today?

Hands down, yes, without a question. My mother had a very diverse taste in music so I was always exposed to all kinds of music. In my early teen years I took after my mother's more punk/goth side of music preference and thats the kind of music I started to listen to/write with friends. When I became a more "professional" producer I let my mom's urban/rnb/soul side of music taste guide me, since that was the type of music I could really connect with at the time. That side of her taste definitely shaped the kind of style I have now since I am absolutely in LOVE with anything urban/rnb/soul.